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That’s right. Muslin is slightly more textured than Ultrabounce so the light bouncing off it is more even, as well as being warmer. The real softness of a bounce source depends on its size, and its size relative to the subject.
Dynalens. The system used lens elements suspended in a fluid. I think with the right spelling you can find a lot online.
I am sure you are aware how light behaves differently in the rain. You might find that your street lights, when used as a backlight, may be enough and you might find yourself turning off lights that are behind camera. Take a look at Road to Perdition. I know the film had very strong stylized backlighting for the rain sequences but the concept is the same. Wide shots in silhouette against the light and that same light acting as a side light for closer coverage of the characters.
I might suggest you shoot any wide shots at dusk and take advantage of a dark sky. Otherwise, it is hard to give advice without knowing the complexity of the scene, the width of your shots and the style of shooting. It is one thing to light a static shot in a forest and another a long tracking shot that revolves 360º.
I have a book, ‘Reflections’, coming out in the fall which may provide you with what you are after. At least, I hope it will as that was my intent when assembling it. ‘Reflections’ contains lighting diagrams and analysis of various films and scenes within them but is not intended as a technical manual, as its title would imply.
I am confused by your approach as it seems you are attempting to grade your way to a ‘look’. For me, grading is only finessing what you have recorded not attempting to ‘find a look’.
I was not on Burn After Reading but from working on many other films with Joel and Ethan I can say that they would have had a clear idea of the shots they wanted. It is rare they shoot a shot they don’t intend to use. They edit their films and know the flow of a scene before they get into the cutting room.
I did use ND on the windows for some shots but I can’t remember exactly which ones. I would often have frames made to fit the windows and cover one set with an ND3 and another with ND6. I found that gave a range of options and the adjustment made quite quickly. If there was the budget I would have hard gels cut to size but that was only rarely possible and there would have to be a solid reason for going that route. On A Serious Man we were working with a minimal budget and the windows in that office were quite large. We might have only ‘pasted’ soft gel directly onto the glass using soapy water.
Broad question. Given we were shooting on location – facing west and not on the ground floor – there were many issues with the changing daylight. I mainly controlled the light using reflectors outside the windows, to both bounce light off and to cut any direct sunlight. It also helped that the Coen brothers had storyboarded the scenes and I could judge, within reason, which angles to shoot at a particular time of day.
I suggest you break down the camera angles and shoot each based on the angle of the sun – that is if there is a shot list or storyboard.
